Narrative:In the evening of 21 July 1944 the C-47-DL 41-18388 of 10th TCS, 60th TCG, USAAF, was approaching a landing ground in Croatia. The pilot, Lt. Morris R. Houser, saw a yellow light on the ground - the signal that the field was under attack. As he increased speed and began to climb, 20-mm shells from a German Ju 88 night fighter struck the left wing and engine and set them on fire. The pilot ordered his crew to bail out, but only the copilot, Lt Pinkney C Largent, was able to bail out before the airplane exploded in the air at 23.35 and spun into the ground 300 yards from drop zone (by 45 37 N 17 35 E, near Vocin), killing Houser and the three other crew. Largent was then rescued by partisans. They were shot down by Hptm Leopold Fellerer of Stab III./NJG 6, who claimed a DC-3 shot down at 2342 hrs at 1000 m in area coded 14 Ost N/OQ-29 (west of Brod) as his 37th victory. Crew: 2nd Lt Morris R Houser (pilot) KIA 2nd Lt Pinknet C Largent (co-pilot) rescued 2nd Lt Alfred W Gunthner (navigator) KIA S/Sgt James J Warren, Jr (flight engineer) KIA Sgt Dick J Tschantz (radio operator) KIA The four killed crew are now buried together in a common grave in Baltimore National Cemetery, Maryland, USA.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.